YERBA BUENA LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

It has been said that the small island situated roughly midway between Oakland and San Francisco has had as many names as a modern divorcée, and also in like fashion, has reclaimed a former name. The island was reportedly first known as Sea Bird Island. Later, the island would be named for two other island dwellers often seen on its steep slopes. The early Spaniards called the island Yerba Buena, translated good herb, in reference to the curative powers of a mint found growing on the island. When the 49ers startled settling in the area, goats were pastured on the island, and soon the island was known as Goat Island. The island would be called Goat Island until around 1931, when the old Spanish name was officially restored. A resident sailor was dressed up as a goat and ceremoniously pushed into the bay, signaling the end of the name Goat Island.

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TABLE BLUFF LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

The first lighthouse to mark Humboldt Bay was completed in 1856 under the contract granted for construction of the first eight west coast lighthouses.


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SANTA CRUZ LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Santa Cruz, located on the northern side of Monterey Bay, was home to a busy port in the mid 1800s, with ships dropping anchor in the harbor to take on loads of redwood, lime, and agricultural products. Authorities felt a lighthouse was needed to guide traffic into the harbor, and Congress set aside a sum of $30,000 on August 30, 1852 for the erection of the Santa Cruz Lighthouse. Point Santa Cruz, which forms the western boundary of Santa Cruz’s harbor was selected as the desired location for the beacon. However, years were spent trying to determine the rightful owner of the prized property, and the majority of the original $30,000 appropriation was returned to the U.S. Treasury.

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SAINT GEORGE REEF LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

St. George Reef is a collection of exposed rocks and covered ledges lying about eight miles northwest of Crescent City. In 1792, George Vancouver named the outcroppings Dragon Rocks, while the nearest point of land was dubbed Point St. George, in hopes that the dragon might one day be slain. The dragon, however, was still alive and well on July 30, 1865, when the steam side-wheeler Brother Jonathan struck the reef and went down. Of the 244 people aboard, only nineteen managed to escape in a small craft.
Two years after the loss of the Brother Jonathan, the Lighthouse Board requested funds for the construction of the St. George Reef Lighthouse. However, with the costly Civil War having ended just two years before, Congress was unwilling to allocate the large sum required to construct a lighthouse on the exposed reef.

With the completion in 1881 of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, Alexander Ballantyne proved that construction of a lighthouse on an exposed rock was feasible. The following year, Congress granted an appropriation of $50,000 that allowed Ballantyne to visit St. George Reef and survey Northwest Seal Rock, which would serve as the foundation for the lighthouse.

In 1883, an additional sum of $100,000 was allocated to start construction. The schooner La Ninfa was towed to the reef in early April of 1883 and moored to four buoys and two points on the rock. La Ninfa would initially serve as the barracks and mess hall for the construction crew. A cable was stretched from the schooner to the top of the rock, and a platform suspended from the cable was used to transport the workmen to and from the rock. When the seas threatened to wash over the rock, the workers would lash their tools to iron rings set into the rock and then ride the platform to safety.

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POINT SUR LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Two tall coastal towers, Piedras Blancas and Pigeon Point, were constructed in the early 1870s to help light the California coast. However, between these two, distant towers, no major coastal light existed, leaving a good portion of the coast dark to mariners. The 1874 Report of the Lighthouse Board read in part: "Vessels leaving San Francisco for the south, having proceeded as far as Pigeon Point Light, take their departure for Point Sur, some 60 miles distant, the great indentation of Monterey Bay intervening. Vessels to the southward bound to San Francisco having arrived at Piedras Blancas, take their departure for Point Sur again about 60 miles distant; hence Point Sur is the most important point and should be the site of a lighthouse. In considering the various points on the California coast where lighthouses are still required Point Sur claims the place of greatest importance."

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POINT MONTARA LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Everyone knows Mark Twain’s famous remark, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” While the coast near San Francisco is not really subject to the arctic temperatures Twain complained of, the climate is conducive to heavy fog, and heavy fog, as every mariner knows, is conducive to shipwrecks. For years, vessels caught in the pea soup fog along the final approach to San Francisco Bay were forced to hug the coast, putting them in danger of the rocky outcroppings that provide beautiful vistas to sightseers, but prove deadly to boats. Although by the mid-1800s almost 90 vessels had met the business end of the jagged rocks off Montara, it wasn’t until two high profile incidents in 1868 and 1872 that Congress was finally propelled into action.

On November 9, 1868, the Colorado, a large Pacific Mail steamship carrying hundreds of passengers and the US mail, ran aground on the unseen shoals off Point Montara. Although the ship eventually floated free and all the passengers—and the mail—survived, the near disaster left its mark on public sentiment. The ledge where the ship had run aground, formerly called Uncle Sam, became known as “Colorado Reef”. Four years later another ship caught on Colorado Reef was not as lucky. On October 17, 1872, the British sailing ship Aculeo collided with the rocks after being lost for more than three days in blinding fog. As the ship cracked open and filled with water, the crew made its escape on lifeboats. For over a week, the abandoned ship was pounded by waves before a salvage crew could get to it.


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POINT CABRILLO LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

On the night of July 25th, 1850, the sailing brig Frolic misjudged its distance from shore and ran aground just north of Point Cabrillo. The brig had been employed in the lucrative opium trafficking from Bombay, India to Canton, China, but steamships were quickly displacing sailing vessels in the trade, so the Frolic was loaded with household goods and sailed for San Francisco to capitalize on the gold rush boom.

Edward H. Faucon, captain of the Frolic, abandoned his vessel after she ran aground, landed his lifeboats near the mouth of the Big River, and ten days later turned up in San Francisco. The following year, Jerome Ford attempted to salvage the vessel, but found the work impractical. Besides, Pomo Indians had already recovered a good portion of the ship's cargo as evidenced by the brightly colored silk shawls their women were wearing. Although Ford was disappointed in the salvage venture, he was impressed by the mighty stands of redwoods along the coast and talked his associate, Henry Meiggs, into building a sawmill at the mouth of the Big River.


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POINT ARGUELLO LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Just south of the city of Lompoc (pronounced Lahm-poke), the California coastline bends abruptly eastward. Ships sailing south along the coast here must locate the Santa Barbara Channel, which lies between Points Arguello and Conception on the mainland and San Miguel Island, and then make a hard turn to port to enter the channel. Performing this maneuver has been described by mariners as trying to sail a ship through the eye of a needle. Given this difficulty, it is no wonder that this section of the coast is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific”, and is home to over fifty known shipwrecks.

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PIEDRAS BLANCAS LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Few tall, classic lighthouse towers, typical of the Atlantic Seaboard, were built on the Pacific Coast, since the high bluffs along much of its extent provide the necessary height for a focal plane. Piedras Blancas, Pigeon Point, and the original tower at Point Arena, were the only tall, seacoast lighthouses built in California.

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NEW POINT LOMA LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Even before the construction of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, officials were concerned that fog might shroud the light on the lofty hill. Their concerns were soon validated, and after thirty-six years of operation, the old lighthouse was abandoned. Pelican Point, a low-lying, level area at the southern extreme of Point Loma, was selected as the site for the replacement light.

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LONG BEACH LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

The Port of Long Beach is located adjacent to the Port of Los Angeles. If you combine the number of cargo containers shipped through the two ports, they rank as the third busiest container cargo port after Hong Kong and Singapore.

The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest container seaport in the U.S., after only Los Angeles. Long Beach also comes in second after Los Angeles in another category, its lighthouse. The Long Beach Harbor Lighthouse surely must win the award for California's ugliest lighthouse. The three-story, monolithic structure was built of concrete and rests on a base of six columns. The lighthouse was designed to withstand earthquakes and seismic tidal waves. Completed in 1949, the lighthouse has never been manned, but was initially controlled remotely from the Los Angeles Harbor Lighthouse. Also called the robot light, the lighthouse replaced an earlier skeleton tower shown in the top historic photograph to the right.

If the looks of the Long Beach Harbor Lighthouse are not enough to entice a visit, there are also two attractive faux lighthouses located in Long Beach Harbor. The middle picture shown to the left is of Parkers' Lighthouse Restaurant. The bottom picture is of the Lions Lighthouse for Sight, which was made possible largely through funds raised by the local Lions Club.

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HUMBOLDR HARBOR LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Humboldt Bay is the largest bay in California north of San Francisco. Two long thin spits separate the bay from the ocean, and a narrow opening between them provides the bay’s only entrance from the ocean. The town of Eureka was established along the shores of the northern portion of the bay in 1850, and just one year later Humboldt Bay was chosen to receive one of the first eight lighthouses commissioned for the west coast.
The actual site selected for the light was a parcel of land on the spit just north of the bay’s entrance, where it could serve both as a harbor light and a seacoast light. The contract for the first west coast lighthouses was awarded to Gibbons and Kelly, and most of them were constructed using a design by Ammi B. Young that called for a one-and-a-half-story dwelling built around a central tower. While other similarly designed lighthouses were built atop high bluffs or hills, where a tall tower was not necessary, the Humboldt Bay Lighthouse was built on the beach. Old photographs of the lighthouse show a distinct circular ring at a height where the lantern room was placed on similar lighthouses, lending to speculation that at some point the tower of the Humboldt Bay Lighthouse was extended to increase its range. The Humboldt Bay Lighthouse was also unique in that trapezoidal panes were used in the lantern room, rather than the typical square panes.

On the evening of December 20th, 1856, keeper J. Johnson climbed the winding stairs from the dwelling to the lantern room and lit the lamp in the fourth-order Fresnel lens for the first time, making the Humboldt Harbor Lighthouse the last of the original eight west coast lights to become operational. Due to problems with contractors and difficulty in transporting supplies to the site, a couple of the second group of eight lighthouses commissioned for the west coast were actually completed before the Humboldt Harbor Lighthouse.

Johnson reliably performed his duty for just over three years before his death on February 25, 1859. His wife, Sarah E. Johnson, took over the job of keeper, and remained at the station until 1863.


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EAST BROTHER LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

As vessels enter the Golden Gate bound for the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers, they first pass through San Francisco Bay, and then head north through San Pablo Strait and into San Pablo Bay. Two-mile-wide San Pablo Strait is defined by Point San Pablo to the southeast and Point San Pedro to the northwest. In 1870, the Lighthouse Board requested that a lighthouse and fog signal be established at or near Point San Pablo to guide the many steamers and sailing vessels passing through the strait. On March 3, 1871, an appropriation of $20,000 was set aside by Congress for the station.

The government attempted to purchase a tract of land on Point San Pablo, but could not come to terms with the landowners. The government’s sole recourse was to file suit in the local courts, and condemnation proceedings began in July of 1831. A jury decided that a sum of $4,000 was a fair price for the desired 12.8 acres on the point, but the landowners were not satisfied and appealed the verdict to the California Supreme Court. When the appeal was delayed, anxious boats captains sent a petition to the lighthouse inspector in San Francisco suggesting that the lighthouse be built on East Brother Island, which was already owned by the government.

The Brothers (East and West Brother Island) lie roughly 1,000 feet off Point San Pablo, and they, along with the Sisters on the opposite side of the strait, had been reserved for military purposes by order of President Andrew Johnson in 1867. The government decided to end the court battle for property on Point San Pablo, as the Secretary of War agreed that East Brother Island could be used for a lighthouse under the proviso “that it shall give way to fortifications whenever it shall be required for that purpose.”

As vessels enter the Golden Gate bound for the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers, they first pass through San Francisco Bay, and then head north through San Pablo Strait and into San Pablo Bay. Two-mile-wide San Pablo Strait is defined by Point San Pablo to the southeast and Point San Pedro to the northwest. In 1870, the Lighthouse Board requested that a lighthouse and fog signal be established at or near Point San Pablo to guide the many steamers and sailing vessels passing through the strait. On March 3, 1871, an appropriation of $20,000 was set aside by Congress for the station.

The government attempted to purchase a tract of land on Point San Pablo, but could not come to terms with the landowners. The government’s sole recourse was to file suit in the local courts, and condemnation proceedings began in July of 1831. A jury decided that a sum of $4,000 was a fair price for the desired 12.8 acres on the point, but the landowners were not satisfied and appealed the verdict to the California Supreme Court. When the appeal was delayed, anxious boats captains sent a petition to the lighthouse inspector in San Francisco suggesting that the lighthouse be built on East Brother Island, which was already owned by the government.

The Brothers (East and West Brother Island) lie roughly 1,000 feet off Point San Pablo, and they, along with the Sisters on the opposite side of the strait, had been reserved for military purposes by order of President Andrew Johnson in 1867. The government decided to end the court battle for property on Point San Pablo, as the Secretary of War agreed that East Brother Island could be used for a lighthouse under the proviso “that it shall give way to fortifications whenever it shall be required for that purpose.”

As vessels enter the Golden Gate bound for the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers, they first pass through San Francisco Bay, and then head north through San Pablo Strait and into San Pablo Bay. Two-mile-wide San Pablo Strait is defined by Point San Pablo to the southeast and Point San Pedro to the northwest. In 1870, the Lighthouse Board requested that a lighthouse and fog signal be established at or near Point San Pablo to guide the many steamers and sailing vessels passing through the strait. On March 3, 1871, an appropriation of $20,000 was set aside by Congress for the station.

The government attempted to purchase a tract of land on Point San Pablo, but could not come to terms with the landowners. The government’s sole recourse was to file suit in the local courts, and condemnation proceedings began in July of 1831. A jury decided that a sum of $4,000 was a fair price for the desired 12.8 acres on the point, but the landowners were not satisfied and appealed the verdict to the California Supreme Court. When the appeal was delayed, anxious boats captains sent a petition to the lighthouse inspector in San Francisco suggesting that the lighthouse be built on East Brother Island, which was already owned by the government.

The Brothers (East and West Brother Island) lie roughly 1,000 feet off Point San Pablo, and they, along with the Sisters on the opposite side of the strait, had been reserved for military purposes by order of President Andrew Johnson in 1867. The government decided to end the court battle for property on Point San Pablo, as the Secretary of War agreed that East Brother Island could be used for a lighthouse under the proviso “that it shall give way to fortifications whenever it shall be required for that purpose.”


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BATTERY POINT LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

In 1855, the ship America burned in the harbor at Crescent City. Three cannons were salvaged from the wreckage and mounted nearby on the point at the northern side of the harbor's entrance. The cannons, which were often fired during Fourth of July celebrations, resulted in the point being named Battery Point. Although the cannons have since disappeared, the name remains affixed to the point.

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ALCATRAZ ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, CALIFORNIA

Prompted by the cry of "Gold!" at Sutter's Mill in 1848, thousands of fortune hunters set out from the East Coast and rounded Cape Horn on their way to San Francisco and the gold fields beyond. After several vessels experienced difficulty in the waters along the West Coast another cry was heard, this time for the construction of lighthouses to aid navigation. In response, Congress passed acts in 1850 and 1851 that provided funds for eight lighthouses to be built along the West Coast.


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NRP VIANA DO CASTELO

A classe Viana do Castelo é a classe de navios-patrulha oceânicos (NPO) resultante do projeto NPO 2000, a ser construída pelos Estaleiros Navais de Viana do Castelo (ENVC) para a Marinha Portuguesa. É um dos maiores navios a motor armados construídos em Portugal. Os NPO 2000 são navios especialmente vocacionados para actuar nas águas alterosas do Atlântico Norte.

Para a Marinha Portuguesa, está planeada a construção de entre 6 a 8 NPO, acrescidos de 2 navios de combate à poluição (NCP) resultantes de uma derivação do projecto NPO 2000. Estes navios vêm substituir as corvetas das classes João Coutinho e Baptista de Andrade na sua função como patrulhas da zona económina exclusiva de Portugal - e, se for necessário, para lá dela - e os navios de patrulha da classe Cacine. É provável que venham também a ser construídos navios deste tipo para outros países, nomeadamente Argentina, Marrocos e Argélia.

Os navios da classe têm sido baptizados com nomes de cidades portuárias portuguesas.


Data de encomenda 2002
Construção ENVC - Viana do Castelo
Lançamento 2005
Unidade inicial NRP Viana do Castelo
Período de serviço 2007 - atualidade
Utilizadores Portugal
Tipo Navio-patrulha oceânico


Deslocamento 1 750 t
Comprimento 83,1 m
Boca 12,95 m
Calado 3,69 m
Propulsão 2 motores diesel com 3 900 kW, 2 motores elétricos de 200 kW e 2 eixos de cinco pás
Velocidade 23 nós
Autonomia 4 859 milhas náuticas a 15 nós
Armamento 1 peça de 30 mm em plataforma Typhoon
Sensores sistema integrador de informação
Sistema integrado de gestão de plataforma
Sistema integrado de navegação
sistema integrado de comunicações
Rádios MF/HF/VHF/UHF, incluindo terminal satélite INMARSAT, equipamentos GMDSS e acesso ao SIFICAP
Aeronaves Pista de pouso para helicópteros (NPO)
Tripulação 35


Photo & Copyright Wikipédia

OCEANO PACIFICO

Vê que já teve o Indo sojugado,

E nunca lhe tirou Fortuna, ou caso,
Por vencedor da Índia ser cantado
De quantos bebem a água de Parnaso.
Teme agora que seja sepultado
Seu tão célebre nome em negro vaso
D'água do esquecimento, se lá chegam
Os fortes Portugueses, que navegam.

Photo & Copyright Anonymus
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 32

VELEJANDO EM NEW YORK

Despeito e Inveja de Baco

Ouvido tinha aos Fados que viria
Uma gente fortíssima de Espanha
Pelo mar alto, a qual sujeitaria
Da índia tudo quanto Dóris banha,
E com novas vitórias venceria
A fama antiga, ou sua, ou fosse estranha.
Altamente lhe dói perder a glória,
De que Nisa celebra inda a memória.


Photo & Copyright John
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 31

A ARTE DA PESCA NA INDONESIA

Oposição de Baco

Estas palavras Júpiter dizia,
Quando os Deuses por ordem respondendo,
Na sentença um do outro diferia,
Razões diversas dando e recebendo.
O padre Baco ali não consentia
No que Júpiter disse, conhecendo
Que esquecerão seus feitos no Oriente,
Se lá passar a Lusitana gente.


Photo & Copyright Evertjan
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 30

OLHAR NA MARINA

"E porque, como vistes, têm passados
Na viagem tão ásperos perigos,
Tantos climas e céus experimentados,
Tanto furor de ventos inimigos,
Que sejam, determino, agasalhados
Nesta costa africana, como amigos.
E tendo guarnecida a lassa frota,
Tornarão a seguir sua longa rota."


Photo & Copyright Crhis
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 29

COCO ISLAND

"Prometido lhe está do Fado eterno,
Cuja alta Lei não pode ser quebrada,
Que tenham longos tempos o governo
Do mar, que vê do Sol a roxa entrada.
Nas águas têm passado o duro inverno;
A gente vem perdida e trabalhada;
Já parece bem feito que lhe seja
Mostrada a nova terra, que deseja.

Photo & Copyright Jay
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 28

SPRAY

Fala de Júpiter

"Agora vedes bem que, cometendo
O duvidoso mar num lenho leve,
Por vias nunca usadas, não temendo
De Áfrico e Noto a força, a mais se atreve:
Que havendo tanto já que as partes vendo
Onde o dia é comprido e onde breve,
Inclinam seu propósito e porfia
A ver os berços onde nasce o dia.

Photo & Copyright Arturo
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 27

NAVIO DE ABASTECIMENTO

Viriato e Sertório

''Deixo, Deuses, atrás a fama antiga,
Que coa gente de Rómulo alcançaram,
Quando com Viriato, na inimiga
Guerra romana tanto se afamaram;
Também deixo a memória, que os obriga
A grande nome, quando alevantaram
Um por seu capitão, que peregrino
Fingiu na cerva espírito divino.

Photo & Copyright Jorn
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 26

ZARPAR PARA OUTRO PORTO

Mouros e Castelhanos

"Já lhe foi (bem o vistes) concedido
C’um poder tão singelo e tão pequeno,
Tomar ao Mouro forte e guarnecido
Toda a terra, que rega o Tejo ameno:
Pois contra o Castelhano tão temido,
Sempre alcançou favor do Céu sereno.
Assim que sempre, enfim, com fama e glória,
Teve os troféus pendentes da vitória.

Photo & Copyright Steve
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 25

NAVIOS EM FESTA NO CANADÁ

Fala de Júpiter

"Eternos moradores do luzente
Estelífero pólo, e claro assento,
Se do grande valor da forte gente
De Luso não perdeis o pensamento,
Deveis de ter sabido claramente,
Como é dos fados grandes certo intento,
Que por ela se esqueçam os humanos
De Assírios, Persas, Gregos e Romanos.

Photo & Copyright Steve
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 24

MASTROS

De outra pedra mais clara que diamante.

Em luzentes assentos, marchetados
De ouro e de perlas, mais abaixo estavam
Os outros Deuses todos assentados,
Como a razão e a ordem concertavam:
Precedem os antíguos mais honrados;
Mais abaixo os menores se assentavam;
Quando Júpiter alto, assim dizendo,
C'um tom de voz começa, grave e horrendo:

Photo & Copyright Steve
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 23

FINAL DA CARREIRA

Júpiter

Estava o Padre ali sublime e dino,
Que vibra os feros raios de Vulcano,
Num assento de estrelas cristalino,
Com gesto alto, severo e soberano.
Do rosto respirava um ar divino,
Que divino tornara um corpo humano;
Com uma coroa e ceptro rutilante,

Photo & Copyright James
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 22

TEMPORAL NA FLÓRIDA, USA

Deixam dos sete Céus o regimento,
Que do poder mais alto lhe foi dado,
Alto poder, que só co'o pensamento
Governa o Céu, a Terra, e o Mar irado.
Ali se acharam juntos num momento
Os que habitam o Arcturo congelado,
E os que o Austro tem, e as partes onde
A Aurora nasce, e o claro Sol se esconde.

Photo & Copyright Anonymus
Poema Luis de Camoes, Os Lusiadas, Canto I, 21

TRIANGLE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The lantern and lens from the Triangle Island Lighthouse are on display at the Sooke Region Museum in Sooke.

Latitude: 48.384124
Longitude: -123.706092

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

SHERIGHAM POINT LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

On the night of February 26, 1862, the Anna Barnard, bound from San Francisco to Sooke for a load of lumber, approached Vancouver Island. Captain Olmstead and his seven-man crew could hear the pounding surf, but thick, soupy fog prevented them from seeing exactly how close to shore they were. Their luck ran out when they struck rocks a few miles from Sheringham Point. As their bark began to break apart, the captain and two crewmen launched a lifeboat but almost immediately the small vessel overturned in the surf. Captain Olmstead managed to swim to shore, but the cook and seaman who were with him drowned. The five remaining men aboard the bark climbed up the mast, where they passed a white-knuckled night clinging to the rigging until the tide went out and they were able to wade ashore.
Unlike so many other shipwrecks along the west coast of Vancouver Island, the story of the wreck of the Anna Barnard is known because members of its crew survived and, after being assisted by First Nation people, were taken to Victoria to tell their tale.

Even after Carmanah Point Lighthouse was built at the northern entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1891, there were still several nautical miles of unnerving darkness before a ship entering the strait from the north would catch the light from Race Rocks. This dark void disappeared in 1912 with the establishment of the Sheringham Point Lighthouse.

Manuel Quimper, a Peruvian-born navigator sent by Spain to explore the coast of Vancouver Island, was the first to map the point, and he named it Punta de San Eusivio in 1790. The name didn’t last for long. During his 1846 survey aboard the H.M.S. Herald, Captain Henry Kellet changed the name to Sheringham Point in honor of Commander William Louis Sheringham of the Royal Navy. Captain Kellet had served under Sheringham, whose accomplishments included surveying the south coast of England and Wales and assisting Captain Francis Beaufort in the compilation of Sailing Directions.

The site for the Sheringham Point Lighthouse was purchased from the Clark family in 1912 for $226.02, and construction began that same year under a contract to T. Stedham. The Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries for 1913 lists the following expenses associated with the work:

tower, wooden dwelling, boathouse, and oil shed - $8,457
seven foot lantern room, third-order triple flashing optic and freight - $7,609.50
installation of apparatus, inspection, traveling and other expenses by day’s labour under L. Cullison - $4,898.49
The hexagonal reinforced concrete lighthouse stands 20 metres (64 ft) high and was designed by William Anderson. Also at the station were a small boathouse, east of the tower, a square, white fog alarm building with a gable roof, located between the tower and the shore, and a substantial keeper’s dwelling, situated up the slope, well back from the tower. The original fog alarm building has since been replaced by a square, concrete building with a flat roof, while no keeper dwelling remains.

The original fog horn, which was operated by a steam engine, was replaced around 1925 by a diaphone horn powered by compressed air from oil engines. The fog alarm was later equipped with an automatic low visibility detector.

Eustace Travanion Arden lit the light for the first time on September 30, 1912. Sheringham Point with its dramatic view of the Olympic Mountain Range and close proximity to town had very little turnover. Keeper Arden remained at the station almost thirty-four years, retiring on February 18, 1946.

Alfred Dickenson served at the Capilano Lighthouse until the spring of 1946, when the light was electrified and operated from the signal tower on nearby Lions Gate Bridge. As Dickenson was sixty-one at the time, there was talk of his retirement, but he preferred to take another assignment if possible, so on June 13, 1946, the tender Berens arrived to transport Alfred, his wife Annie, and their few crated belongings to Victoria, from where they would travel by truck to their new home at Sheringham Point. A southeast gale was blowing with heavy rain the day they sailed for Victoria, and Annie became quite seasick. “Most of the stuff is soaked,” Alfred complained, “damned disgrace how things are handled, several things broken.”

After having spent twenty-four years in a small dwelling perched above the First Narrows, the Dickensons likely expected improved conditions at Sheringham Point, but such was not the case when they arrived. “In all my life I have never seen such a disgraceful condition for a government lightstation,” Alfred lamented. “I do not blame the temporary keeper, this dump was never looked after, hell of a mess … Engines just a bunch of junk.” During his first night of service at Sheringham, the light stopped at 12:30 and again at 1:10 a.m.

Keeper Arden, a loyal Tory, had been granted the position of first keeper at Sheringham Point over more qualified men, who just happened to lack his political connections. The Dickensons inherited the outcome of such patronage, but given Alfred’s diligence, the station surely didn’t remain in a dilapidated state for long.

John W. Burton became keeper in 1968. He and his family loved the spot and one of his daughters was married in the lantern room in 1976 with sixteen people, including the minister, all crowded in the small space. Burton reluctantly left the station in August 1989 when the light station was de-staffed.

The third-order Fresnel lens originally used in the lighthouse was removed in 1976 and is now located at the Sooke Region Museum, where a panel of it can be viewed by appointment.

The Sheringham Point Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed in 2003 to work for the preservation of the tower and the creation of a public park on the surrounding ten acres. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) completed a land swap in early 2008 with a neighboring landowner to help make the park possible. The land around the lighthouse, formerly owned by Western Forest Products, was sold to a private developer and is currently being developed into home sites. In 2010, controversy surrounded the sale of other nearby lands by Western Forest Products to the same private developer. Conservation groups are actively petitioning the government to purchase those lands for public use.


Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com

RACE ROCKS LIGHTHOUSE, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Located on Great Race Rock in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, about 15km (9 miles) southwest of Victoria.

Latitude: 48.29837
Longitude: -123.53171

Photo Text & Copyright www.Lighthousefriends.com